(EnergyAsia, August 24, Friday) — Thai oil refiner and retailer Bangchak Petroleum Plc said it plans to invest up to one billion baht to build a 300,000 litre/day biodiesel plant. Senior executive vice-president Patiparn Sukorndhaman said he expects construction to begin around end-2007 and to be completed by mid-2009. The plant will be located near...
(EnergyAsia, August 24, Friday) — PetroChina Company Limited said its first half net profits rose 1.4% to RMB81.83 billion from year-ago levels. (US$1=RMB7.56). Earnings per share reached RMB0.46, an improvement of about RMB0.01 for the same period last year. Its revenue for the six months ended June 30 rose 20.3% to RMB392.73 billion. PetroChina said...
(EnergyAsia, August 24, Friday) — Indonesia is unlikely to be able to guarantee liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply to Japan despite their signing of an economic partnership agreement early this week. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta to deepen economic ties, with energy supply security as his...
(EnergyAsia, August 24, Friday) — An analyst has rated the share price of Malaysia’s Shell Refining as “fully valued” after the company posted “sterling” second quarter results. Shell’s share price closed at RM11.10 on August 23. (US$1=RM3.56). “We have raised our FY2007 earnings estimates by 55% to RM1.007, imputing higher gross refining margin (GRM) assumptions...
(EnergyAsia, August 24, Friday) — Malaysia’s Shell Refining Company said its second quarter after-tax net profit rose 15% to RM168.3 million compared with the same period last year. The company attributed the rise to higher refining margins and to a stockholding gain of RM40 million. Shell will pay an interim dividend of RM0.20 per share...
(EnergyAsia, August 24, Friday) — Commodities broker Fimat thinks the market is under-pricing the risk of a late-season gasoline supply shortfall in the US. Traders reacted calmly to the August 22 report of a much larger than expected weekly draw in US gasoline inventories, with NYMEX gasoline futures posting only a modest rebound. The markets...
(EnergyAsia, August 24, Wednesday) — Oiltanking Odfjell Terminals & Co (OOT) has signed a Letter of Intent to construct, own and operate the bulk liquid import and export facilities for Aromatics Oman Limited (AOL) in Oman’s industrial port of Sohar. OOT said it will construct eight tanks with a total capacity of 274,000 cubic metres...
(EnergyAsia, August 24, Friday) — Naresh Nayyar has resigned as CEO of India’s ONGC-Mittal Energy, the joint venture between state upstream company ONGC and the Mittal group. He is expected to take over as CEO and managing director at Essar Oil. In China, Hong Kong-listed CITIC Resources Holdings Ltd said chairman Peter Kwok and vice...
(EnergyAsia, August 24, Friday) — Singapore’s SolarMorph said it has contracted with US-based Applied Materials to assist in the construction of a 45MW solar panel manufacturing plant using large-area thin film silicon technology. Groundbreaking for the $150 million plant in Tuas is due in the fourth quarter of 2007. Applied Materials is to deliver a...
(EnergyAsia, August 24, Friday) — Representatives from 10 leading oil refiners will be presenting at the Third Asia Refining Conference at the Hilton Hotel in Singapore on September 6–7. The companies represented include Indonesia’s Pertamina, India’s Chennai Petroleum, PetroChina, Pakistan’s Pak-Arab Refinery, PetroVietnam, Thailand’s Star Petroleum Refining, Kuwait National Petroleum Corp, National Iranian Oil Refining...
(EnergyAsia, August 23, Thursday) – Singapore’s Yantai Raffles Shipyard Limited (YRS) said it expects to complete the construction of its US$40 million gantry crane for building semi-submersible rigs and other huge offshore in October. The “Tai Sun” gantry crane, named after Shandong province’s famous mountain, is the world’s largest crane with a total lifting capacity...
(EnergyAsia, August 23, Thursday) — China has introduced new measures to control the import of natural gas to reduce competition among its three major state companies, China National Petroleum Corp, Sinopec and China National Offshore Oil Corp. The Ministry of Commerce said the measures in place since June will provide for price stability and prevent...
(EnergyAsia, August 23, Wednesday) — Singapore’s PowerSeraya Ltd has unveiled its strategy to become an integrated energy company. At a ceremony yesterday, it announced plans to build a 800MW natural gas-fired co-generation plant on Jurong Island, supply steam to Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore (Private) Limited under a 15-year contract, and established a physical oil trading...
(EnergyAsia, August 23, Thursday) — Japan’s Modec, which makes offshore oil and gas production facilities, has opened a 20,000-square-foot centre in Singapore to house its operating and engineering activities. The S$2.5 million centre will build and manage floating production, storage and offloading units in Southeast Asia and Oceania, said president and chief executive Kenji Yamada....
(EnergyAsia, August 23, Thursday) — The New Zealand Refining Company Ltd, the country’s only refiner, said first half profit fell 28% to NZ$59.8 million as a result of a month-long plant shutdown for maintenance. (US$1=NZ$1.44). Its 105,000 b/d refinery is located at Marsden Point near Whangarei. Revenue was down 24% to NZ$161.16 million compared with...
(EnergyAsia, August 23, Thursday) — Azerbaijan could have a new 12 million tonne/year terminal in Graradagh territory to handle crude oil supplies on the Black Sea. Its capacity could later be expanded to 40 million tonnes/year. Sangachal Garadagh Oil & Gas Terminal Closed Joint Stock Company said the terminal will be a hub for delivering...
(EnergyAsia, August 23, Thursday) — The Indian government blinked first when it agreed to give striking oil workers an interim pay hike just hours after unions representing 45,000 employees had launched an indefinite nationwide strike. The Oil Sector Officers Association, which represent the unions of officers of state-owned oil companies, called off the strike on...
(EnergyAsia, August 23, Thursday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it will provide $500,000 from a special fund, financed by the Japanese government to fund a study for Papua New Guinea’s power sector development. The PNG government will contribute $130,000 equivalent to finance staff, office accommodation, communication, local transport and consultations and awareness facilitation....
(EnergyAsia, August 23, Thursday) — US major Chevron Corp said it has started up commercial operations at its 110-megawatt (MW) Darajat III geothermal power plant in Garut in Indonesia’s West Java. The new unit, operated by Chevron’s subsidiary Chevron Geothermal Indonesia Ltd, increases the total capacity at the Darajat geothermal facility to 259 MW. The...
(EnergyAsia, August 23, Thursday) — Oil prices are falling because of the US subprime credit crisis and not the result of a shift in oil fundamentals, said US commodities broker Fimat. In contrast with the price retreat of August-September 2006, there is no looming oil inventory surplus. While US product stocks are not quite as...
(EnergyAsia, August 22, Wednesday) — Singapore Exchange-listed KS Energy Services Limited has reported a 82% rise in interim net profit to S$56.5 million for the six months ended 30 June 2007. (US$1=S$1.52). Revenue surged 16% to S$153 million, while earnings per share jumped 84% to S$0.239. KS Energy, which procures, refurbishes and supplies capital equipment...
(EnergyAsia, August 22, Wednesday) — Australian upstream company Santos said it has started Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) studies for the Reindeer gas field in the Carnarvon Basin, off the coast of Western Australia. The Reindeer field is located in permit WA-209-P in which Santos has a 45% working interest in joint venture with...
(EnergyAsia, August 22, Wednesday) — NYSE-listed Huaneng Power International Inc said its first half net profit rose 32.7% to RMB2.875 billion for the period ended June 30, 2007. (US$1=RMB7.56). Its operating revenues increased by 16.7% to RMB23.144 billion over the same period. Earnings per share were RMB0.24, or RMB 9.6 for each American Depositary Share....
(EnergyAsia, August 22, Wednesday) — NYSE-listed The Shaw Group Inc said its Energy & Chemicals Group has been awarded contracts to provide its proprietary technology, engineering and procurement services for two 800,000 metric tons per year grassroots ethylene plants in China. The value of the contracts, which will be reflected in Shaw’s fourth quarter fiscal...
(EnergyAsia, August 22, Wednesday) — Nasdaq-listed Foster Wheeler Ltd said its Milan-based subsidiary Foster Wheeler Italiana SpA has been awarded a contract by the US–based Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) for a feasibility and optimisation study covering the ‘Engineering and economic assessment of Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) coal power plants for near-term deployment.’ The...